1. Field
Exemplary embodiments relate to a technique for measuring a location of a communication terminal, and more particularly, to a location measuring method and apparatus using an access point for a wireless local area network (WLAN) service.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the development of mobile communication techniques, studies have been actively made on location measuring techniques that measure a location of a mobile terminal in a communication network. Typically, a global positioning system (GPS)-based location measuring technique using satellites has been widely used.
The GPS-based location measuring technique has a disadvantage of having to mount a GPS receiver on a mobile terminal. Also, because the GPS-based location measuring technique was developed by the U.S. Department of Defense for military use, a high-precision GPS-based location measuring technique is not disclosed. Furthermore, the GPS-based location measuring technique has limited use since the technique is useless in buildings, for example, houses, offices, or shops, where satellite signals cannot be received. To overcome these drawbacks, attempts have been made to measure a location of a terminal using an access point for a WLAN service.
The WLAN service enables users of mobile terminals to wirelessly connect to the Internet through a WLAN access point near the mobile terminals, for example, notebook computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), smart phones, and the like, that have WLAN cards mounted therein. Recently, to meet the increasing demand for the WLAN service, installation of access points in buildings, such as large-scaled shopping malls, and the like, has increased.
Since many access points have now been installed in buildings, a location of a mobile terminal can be measured in buildings where a GPS-based location measuring technique cannot be applied by using the access points.
Accordingly, research and development on a location measuring technique using an access point for a WLAN service has recently been flourishing.